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Not that we've obsessed over the entire menu at the new Kelly English Steakhouse at Harrah's St. Louis, but after sampling several items last week, a few of them landed square in surefire territory.
Kelly English was born in Louisiana, and partially due to the success of his first restaurant (Restaurant Iris in Memphis), landed on Food & Wine 's list of "Best New Chefs" for 2009. In St. Louis, his intent is to introduce some Southern influence to the steakhouse concept, and the short, tidy menu at Kelly English does just that.
To get your dining companions in the proper frame of mind, begin with an order (perhaps two) of Fried Oysters, a large, luscious and impressively-stacked mound of them, top-dressed with shaved lettuce and random chunks of Maytag Blue.
Follow with English's Creole Midnight Snack (above left), three U-12 Gulf shrimp, Creole-seasoned and grilled, tossed in remoulade and shingled onto brioche toast with a poached egg atop--it's one of the simpler and more successful appetizers of this year. (Clearly, English's larder is better stocked than mine...If I'm eating toast at midnight, it's General Mills' Cinnamon Toast Crunch.)
The signature item is one English featured at Iris, as well as on the Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate, his take on a Surf & Turf (right), a 12-ounce Missouri-sourced strip steak stuffed with more of those fried oysters and a little more blue cheese, napped with bordelaise and hollandaise sauces, resting on a hash of cubed potatoes and Allan Benton's bacon, claimed to be "the best bacon in the world" by English, who will use no other, as he told SLM in a Q&A here.
Grandma would insist that you finish with My Grandma's Bread Pudding, a huge ration, as big as grandpa's gloved fist, each individually baked and topped with a rum-caramel sauce and cayenne-candied pecans. And for God's sake share that with a friend. You'll both thank me later...and live to pay another visit.
